Music is best when taken internationally. It’s easy to get looped into all of the wonderful North American offerings that are available to we listeners, but sometimes you’ve got to take the night flight to locations unknown. To close your eyes and wake up in a new culture with unfamiliar languages and customs. Our relationship […]
Some musicians get lucky enough to find a career, once; maybe even twice. But if a musician is able to have several different careers in the brutal music business over the course of their lives, it’s not about luck; it’s about talent. Peter Case has plenty of talent: he’s made his name as a great […]
Supporting a leader isn’t an easy job. The list of responsibilities is long—it’s necessary to pivot with that person, and go with the flow. One must have the ability to look a few yards ahead and anticipate what’s coming just around the corner. If you’ve ever watched a late night television show, watch—or, maybe more […]
So what if it’s a nickname? When people refer to you by the name Vinyl, there’s a reason why. Of course, it also happens to rhyme with this week’s guest’s legal nam—which is Lionel—and you’ll find out the origin of this nomenclature by just staying tuned in. Lionel (Vinyl) Williams is a California based musician […]
As large as it seems, the entertainment world is really pretty small. While many folks make the joke about Kevin Bacon and his six degrees of separation from anyone else in the industry, it’s quite possible because everyone in the performing arts world is really only a few steps away from anybody else. I had […]
There are some musical groups and performers whose music is as ubiquitous as having the lights on in a dark room, or water streaming from a kitchen faucet. Some music is more than just songs, it’s as though the words, phrases and messages are ingrained into our psyche. This might not even have anything to […]
Gary Kemp cut his teeth as a band member of the immensely popular 1980s new romantic, synth-pop band, Spandau Ballet. As their chief composer, his participation in the group was fundamental to its success; Kemp is responsible for writing a song that you’ve heard many times—in fact, BMI has awarded it one of the most […]
The Cold War was a time that those of a certain age will remember living through quite vividly, and it included a terrifyingly tangible fear of global nuclear warfare. The Soviet Union was simply seen as an evil empire and the media surrounding America during those years had no problem perpetuating that narrative. In my […]
Once one delves far enough into a hobby or an interest, they become curious about its inner workings. When it comes to records, you might enjoy those discs on a certain level before you start wondering how music comes from those grooves at all. Who is responsible for producing this material? How are the pressing […]
Artificial Intelligence is a hot button topic of the day. Everyone wonders where the A.I. rabbit hole will lead us, and one of those areas of conversation involves music and media production. For years now, computers have been helping musicians to create their music and also to improve upon whatever it is that they’ve made. […]
Are there records in your collection that you love so much you might consider the possibility of never hearing them again? Such a concept is counterintuitive to a lover of music or sound. Records are made to be played, not hidden away like the dusty storage unit relics in the concluding scene of Raiders of […]
It’s a real luxury to sit for a while and chat with musicians who have been a part of your life for – well – all of your life. To actually speak with the people who made the sounds that have served as your life’s soundtrack, to ask those things you’ve always wondered about. Who […]
One never knows what might end up in a songwriter’s sketchpad. It could be random musings about the state of the world, hazy memories about family members, or maybe even inspired creations from the works of other masters. A songwriter’s sketchpad is a diary of sorts for an artist, but can also serve to shed […]
Artists need to be inspired to create their best works, and it’s not always easy to have the wherewithal to clearly see the inspiration around us. In fact, for a musician, the insight to this inspiration is often more important than musical or production ability. Listeners love sounds that touch them on an emotional level, […]
One of my old film professors used to say that one had never really seen a film unless they had watched it at least once with the sound off. Audio—be it music, or sound—adds so much detail to a moving picture that sometimes the viewer misses a few visual nuances because they’re also busy listening. […]
